With Christmas approaching next week, the team at GPN Technologies decided it was time to take a closer look at EDGEPro data and examine the business trends for Christmas Eve. What they found in the historical dashboard data suggests there is a very low level of activity in eyecare practices on this day. Dec. 24 is undoubtedly one of the busiest days of the year in many respects, but it’s not typically like this across optical retailing and eyecare. The malls are packed, the highways congested, and much of life is focused on Christmas and family, the GPN team noted. But the one place where there really isn’t any traffic or congestion is likely the individual eyecare practice.

“Now, you may be thinking, ‘There was that one Christmas Eve where we were really busy,’ but EDGEPro data tells a different story,” Evan Kestenbaum, a co-founder and chief operating officer of GPN Technologies and a co-owner of Optix Family Eyecare in Plainview, N.Y., told VMAIL. “In looking at the sales records from the past four years, only about 40 percent of the practices processed a single transaction on that day. That means 60 percent of practices were closed and most likely the 40 percent closed some portion of the day on Dec. 24,” Kestenbaum noted.

“Going back as far as 2012, only 23 percent of practices processed transactions on that day [Dec. 24],” Kestenbaum told VMAIL. “Whether you do or don’t celebrate Christmas, close your practice and catch up on year end business, do your last-minute shopping, or simply spend time with your family and relax,” he advised ECPs. “Go with the data, close your office on Dec. 24th . Your team will remember.”